Kelowna road crews pivot to spring cleaning amid snow-free winter

Street cleaning, not plowing

The Okanagan just experienced one of the driest months in history, with Kelowna and Penticton both shattering records for lack of precipitation.

"This is an exceptionally dry winter for us. We haven't had a snowfall in six weeks, and it's almost mid-February," says City of Kelowna roadways manager, Andrew Schwerdtfeger.

Environment Canada indicates that Kelowna saw only 7.8 millimetres of moisture in January—just 25 per cent of its usual average—making it the driest January since record-keeping began in 1900.

"This is the third year in a row where we've seen a light winter for snowfall. Normally, we would have drained the sand shed five to six times by this time of year."

Schwerdtfeger says in a normal year, the city uses about 15,000 tons of winter sand, and this year they've only applied about 2,000, "so we're trending way, way below average."

While the news may not be good for skiers and outdoor snow enthusiasts, according Schwerdtfeger, the city is saving money on its snow removal budget. He says that money will be used for other work, like filling potholes and street cleaning.

"This is business as usual for us right now. We're out shouldering roads, ditching sidewalk repairs, pothole repairs, anything we would do when it's not normally snowing, is what we're doing right now," he said.

"I've got flowers popping up in my garden at home. It's quite uncommon for us to be sweeping roads in February and January this year," Schwerdtfeger says.

The lack of snow is raising red flags for the provincial snowpack, which currently sits between 80 and 85 per cent of normal. The next provincial snowpack report is expected to be released on Feb. 10. We should have a better, more detailed picture of what's going on at higher altitudes then.